Robert Holthus

Veteran trainer Robert Holthus, a regular on racing circuits in Kentucky, Arkansas and the Midwest for nearly 60 years, died Tuesday morning in Louisville, Ky. at the age of 77.

He was preparing to head to Churchill Downs to oversee his horses’ morning training when Holthus was stricken by an apparent heart attack.  He died a short time later at a local hospital.

Holthus is survived by his wife, Bonnie; sons Paul and David; and a daughter, Debbie.

A local memorial service for Holthus has been scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 26 at 10:30 a.m. (EST) at Christ Chapel on the Churchill Downs backside.  An additional memorial service will be scheduled later in Hot Springs, Ark.

"This is a very sad day for all members of the Churchill Downs and Kentucky Derby families as we have lost a revered figure and a true friend in Robert Holthus,” said Kevin Flanery, president of Churchill Downs.  “His talents as a horseman are easily appreciated by a look at wins and earnings that serve as the bottom line for a remarkable career, but Bob was also a true gentleman to everyone who crossed his path.  He has meant so much to fellow horsemen, fans who have watched his horses compete here for more than a half-century and to members of our Churchill Downs team.  Our hearts and prayers are with the Holthus family and Bob’s many friends during this time of great loss.”

His career, which began at Nebraska’s Columbus racetrack in 1952, started well before the launch of official record-keeping for American Thoroughbred racing.  But Holthus saddled documented winners of 2,824 races, which ranks 28^th on the sport’s all-time win list, and compiled earnings of $46,085,877.  He had at least 146 stakes wins, with 27 of those in graded stakes events.

Career highlights included a pair of victories in the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park with Proper Reality (1988) and Lawyer Ron (2006), both of whom were among his five career starters in the Kentucky Derby (GI).  Proper Reality finished fourth to Winning Colors in his “Run for the Roses,” while Lawyer Ron finished 12^th behind Barbaro.  Holthus’ other Derby hopes were Our Trade Winds (12^th in 1972), Pro Prado (13^th in 2004) and Greater Good (13^th in 2005).

Proper Reality went on to win the Metropolitan Mile (GI) at Belmont Park and the Iselin Handicap (GI) at Monmouth Park.  Lawyer Ron’s wins in the spring of his 3-year-old season for Holthus also included the Southwest and Rebel Stakes (GIII).

Another outstanding horse in his career was Pure Clan, a stakes winner on both turf and dirt.  Her wins on the grass included the Flower Bowl Invitational (GI) at Belmont Park and the American Oaks (GI) at Hollywood Park.  Two of Pure Clan’s stakes victories came on the dirt at Churchill Downs in the 2007 Golden Rod (GII) and Pocahontas (GIII), both races for 2-year-old fillies, and she also won the Regret (GII) for 3-year-old fillies on turf the following year.

Holthus never won a training title at Churchill Downs, but won 211 races locally and had six documented top five finishes in “leading trainer” races.  They included:

• Third place finishes in the Spring Meet in 1974 (9 wins) and ’75 (10 wins);
• A fourth-place finish in the 2005 Spring Meet (14 wins); and
• Fifth-place finishes in the 2006 Fall Meet (six wins), 1997 Spring (11 wins) and 1995 Spring (nine wins).

Other successes among his 11 career stakes victories at Churchill Downs included renewals of the Churchill Downs Handicap with Bay Phantom, Holthus’ first local stakes win in 1966, and Top Avenger, who won a division of the race in 1982.  He also won the River City Handicap with Suliman (1981), Grade III Bashford Manor with A.V. Eight (1995), the first of two Pocahontas wins with The Happy Hopper (1998), Grade III American Turf with Air Rocket (1999), Grade II Humana Distaff with Ruby Surprise (2000) and the Grade II Kentucky Jockey Club (Greater Good, 2004).

His earned his last victory at Churchill Downs with Dance Caller on Nov. 18, 2010.

The native of Table Rock, Neb. was the son of a trainer and is the all-time win leader at Oaklawn Park. Holthus earned nine “leading trainer” titles the Arkansas track and his Oaklawn exploits earned Holthus enshrinement in the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.  He also won training titles at Arlington Park, Hawthorne Race Course, Louisiana Downs, Detroit Race Course, and Kentucky’s Ellis Park and Turfway Park.

BOREL GETS FIRST SPRING MEET RIDING TITLE – Jockey Calvin Borel popped the gate on opening day by winning five races and never looked back in winning his first Spring Meet riding title at Churchill Downs.
“That first day felt good, but it is a long meet and you never know what will happen,” said Borel, who won an outright Fall Meet title in 1999 and shared Fall honors in 2006 and 2009. “But I have ridden here so long, it is like being in my yard and I am happy here.”

In addition to the most number of wins, Borel led all riders with five stakes victories, starting opening day with Hurricane Ike in The Cliff’s Edge Derby Trial (Grade III) and coming back a week later to win the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI) on Super Saver.  The latter victory for Borel was an unprecedented third triumph in four years in the “Run for the Roses.”

"I’ve had a good meet. I rode some good horses and I’d like to thank the trainers for giving me the opportunities,” Borel said. “But winning the Derby, man, that made everything.”

With 49 winners entering Sunday’s final card, Borel was in position to have his second-best Spring Meet in terms of numbers with 10 mounts. Borel rode 61 winners last spring and he had 52 winners in both 2006 and 2008. He also hit the 50-win mark in 1998 with 50 and in 2001 and 2002 when he had 51 in both years.

Other stakes winners Borel rode were defending Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra in the Fleur de Lis (GII), Atta Boy Roy in the Churchill Downs (GII) and Ailalea in the Dogwood (GIII).

Borel will take some time off after the meet ends and before heading to Saratoga for that meet that begins July 23.

LOCUST GROVE WINNER DANZON SARATOGA BOUND – Trainer Jim Baker was still shaking his head in amazement Sunday morning after Danzon prevailed in a six-horse photo finish in Saturday’s one-mile Locust Grove Handicap (GIII).

"I thought for sure we got beat,” Baker said. “You get caught up in all the emotion after the race and then the camera showed the four (Acoma) and 90 percent of the time, those guys are right.

“Then they put up the 6-9, and I thought I was the nine.”

Baker claimed Danzon for $80,000 for owner Alfred Nuckols Jr., and this was the 7-year-old mare’s first start in his care.

“I am just glad she ran so well,” Baker said. “I have lost a lot of close ones, but even if you get beat a nose, you know you ran well. She will go to Saratoga for sure and we will look around and see what they have up there.”

Happiness Is, who finished a nose back in second and Keertana, who was fifth beaten three noses and a neck, were both doing well Sunday morning according to Fergus Bogle, assistant to trainer Tom Proctor who was in Chicago where his Snow Top Mountain ran second in Saturday’s Arlington Oaks (GIII).

"Happiness Is may to go Canterbury for the race she won last year (the $100,000 Lady Canterbury at a mile on the turf on July 24)),” Bogle said. “Keertana is still on track for the Beverly D. (GI on Aug. 21). She had a wide trip and still only got beat a half-length.”

The Beverly D. also remains the target for favored Acoma, who finished fourth beaten two noses and a neck.

“I thought she ran a good race,” trainer David Carroll said. “It was just her second race back, she was giving weight and just got beat a neck. I am not disappointed at all. I don’t think she saw the horses on the outside and I think that she thought she had won.”

Carroll said that Acoma would remain here until just before the Beverly D, run at 1 3/16 miles, a distance Carroll says is more to Acoma’s liking.

PURE CLAN TO RESUME GALLOPING MONDAY MORNING – As exercise rider Steve Schmelzel brought Pure Clan off the track after jogging a mile, trainer Bob Holthus sported a broad smile.

“She looks a lot happier out there than she was all last year,” Holthus said as Pure Clan bucked her way back to Barn 32. “She will start galloping again tomorrow.”

Owned by Lewis Lakin, Pure Clan has been battling a bruised left front foot this spring. She refused to train the morning of May 6 and the 5-year-old mare was given time off at Lakin’s farm in Versailles and spent time on an aqua-tread.

“She has been on the treadmill for 45 days, so it won’t be that long until she works,” said Holthus of Pure Clan, who returned to the barn Thursday and has jogged the past two mornings. “So far, I like what I see from her.”

Pure Clan, who has compiled a career record of 8-4-3 in 16 races with earnings of $1,987,498, has not raced since a runner-up finish to Midday in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (GI) last November at Santa Anita. That race, scheduled for Nov. 5 at Churchill Downs, is the ultimate goal for Pure Clan who will spend the summer here.

"We are going to try to make the Flower Bowl (GI),” Holthus said of an October race at Belmont Park that Pure Clan won last year. “That would give us the best chance to make the Breeders’ Cup.”

BARN TALK – Maggi Moss’ final starter of the meet, Don’t Shoot, rewarded Moss with her ninth winner of the meet and a two-win cushion over Ken and Sarah Ramsey entering the final day of the meet. The Ramseys, winners of the past five meet-leading owner titles and a record 16 overall (eight Spring and eight Fall), picked up their seventh winner of the meet in Saturday’s fourth race with Custers Last Stand. The Ramseys have six horses entered Sunday. Moss’ lone Churchill Downs leading owner title came in the 2007 Spring Meet. …

Steve Asmussen, who swept the training titles at both meets in 2009, rode the victory by Kantharos in the Bashford Manor (GIII) to open a 24-18 advantage on Dale Romans and clinch at least a tie for the title. Eyeing his fourth Spring Meet title and eighth overall, Asmussen has five horses entered Sunday and Romans has six. …

Shaun Bridgmohan was blanked Saturday, keeping his Churchill Downs victory total at 297. Bridgmohan is named on six mounts Sunday in his bid to become the 19th rider to reach 300 victories at Churchill Downs. …

Trainer Neil Howard reported that Dogwood Stable’s Lou Brissie probably would head to Saratoga after his runner-up effort on Kantharos in the Bashford Manor. “He is fine this morning,” Howard said of Lou Brissie, who suffered his first loss in three starts. “That was a good colt that beat him and we knew that going in.”

WORK TAB – Hull, winner of the 2009 Derby Trial (GIII), worked a half-mile in :47.60 over a fast track, fastest of 63 at the distance. … Colizeo, winner of last month’s Northern Dancer (GIII), worked a half-mile in :48.40, fourth best of the morning at the distance.

HOLTHUS TURNS 76 TODAY; BEST PRESENT COMES NEXT WEEK – Bob Holthus has been a trainer for more than 75 percent of his life and today he turns 76, some 58 years after he got his trainer’s license in 1952.

Did he have an idea starting out he would still be training horses all these many years later?

“No,” Holthus said quickly and with a laugh.

Holthus has seen a lot of things in his years on the track, including some he thought he never would see.

“Lights at Churchill Downs. I never thought I would see that,” said Holthus, who saddled his first horse beneath the Twin Spires in 1955. “But we ran at night in the summer at Fairmount Park and Cahokia Downs in the 1950s.”

Holthus, whose top horses have included Proper Reality and Lawyer Ron, sees a different game today than from when he started.

“The purses have increased, but so have the costs,” Holthus said. “Back then, it was more of a family with people looking out for one another and that has changed.”

Although the birthday is today, Holthus is scheduled to receive his best gift next week when stable star Pure Clan returns to the barn.

The two-time Grade I winner, unraced since a runner-up effort in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (GI) last November at Oak Tree at Santa Anita, refused to train on May 6 and was sent to the Rood & Riddle Clinic in Lexington for a thorough examination.  She was diagnosed with a bruised left front foot.

“I have been over to see her once a week and she looks good,” Holthus said of Pure Clan, who has been at owner Lewis Lakin’s farm in Versailles. “She will be back here on the first or second (of July).”

Holthus’ long-term goal for Pure Clan is a third run at the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf that will be held at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5. Pure Clan won the Regret (GIII) as a 3-year-old on the Matt Winn Turf Course in 2008 and made her 2009 debut here with a runner-up effort in the Early Times Mint Julep Handicap (GIII).

PADDY O’PRADO MOVING TOWARD KITTEN’S JOY CLASS FOR ROMANS – Donegal Racing’s Paddy O’Prado moved to the head of the 3-year-old turf class last Saturday with his three-length victory in the $500,000 Colonial Turf Cup (GII) at Virginia’s Colonial Downs.

The next step he takes will be on a familiar path for trainer Dale Romans, who traveled the same road six years ago with Kitten’s Joy, who went on to be voted an Eclipse Award winner as champion turf horse in 2004.

“He is getting close (to Kitten’s Joy’s level),” said Romans, who has targeted the $600,000 Virginia Derby (GII) on July 17 at Colonial and the $400,000 Secretariat (GI) on Aug. 21 at Arlington as the next stops for Paddy O’Prado.

Kitten’s Joy won both of those races as well as four other stakes during his championship campaign that included the Palm Beach (GIII) at Gulfstream Park, a race Paddy O’Prado won this year to break his maiden.

Paddy O’Prado returned to the turf at Colonial after abandoning the grass for Grade I tries on Polytrack in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland (running second) and on dirt in the Kentucky Derby (third) and Preakness (sixth). Kitten’s Joy never raced on dirt again after his first two starts.

"I had Jerry Bailey come work him on the dirt and he agreed with me that he was not a dirt horse,” Romans said. “There’s a chance Paddy O’Prado could run again on dirt. He can run on anything.”

Kitten’s Joy posted a career record of 9-4-0 in 14 outings for earnings of $2,075,791. His Virginia Derby triumph came in his ninth start and was his fourth stakes victory. Paddy O’Prado got his second stakes victory in the Colonial Turf Cup, which was his ninth start, to improve his record to 2-2-3 in nine races for earnings of $758,497.

Romans, who led all trainers at Churchill Downs with four victories last week including his 500th locally, will try to keep the hot streak going Saturday in the 110th running of the $100,000-added Debutante with debut maiden winner Just Louise.

Owned by Eldon Farm Equine, Just Louise is a half-sister to the Romans-trained Sara Louise. That filly, who did not debut until August of her 2-year-old year, won the 2008 Pocahontas (GIII), defeating Rachel Alexandra who turned the tables on Sara Louise in the Golden Rod (GII).  Sara Louise was sold after that race to Dubai-based racing powerhouse Godolphin.

“They are totally different fillies,” Romans said. “But, they both have a lot of talent.”

LEPAROUX BACK IN THE SADDLE, RETURNS TO THE RACES JULY 1 – Jockey Julien Leparoux returned to the saddle Wednesday morning galloping horses and will resume riding races next Thursday, July 1.
Leparoux, who has won or shared six riding titles at Churchill Downs, was injured May 14 during the running of the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (GII) at Pimlico. Leparoux suffered a compression fracture in his vertebrae after being unseated from Diva Delite when she clipped heels.

Leparoux rode the next day on the Preakness Day card, winning two races, and won two races the following day at Churchill Downs. The injury was discovered during an MRI on May 18.

"I didn’t think I was that badly hurt,” Leparoux said of the injury. “But that is all behind me now, in the past.”
During the five weeks off, Leparoux spent a week and a half in his native France and another week in the Bahamas.

Leparoux’s agent, Steve Bass, said the 26-year-old jockey would ride the final four days of the meet and stay in Kentucky for a couple of weeks after the meet before going to Saratoga about a week before that meet opens July 23.

BARN TALK – Jockey Greta Kuntzweiler, who last rode here during the Fall 2005 meet, will resume her riding career Thursday afternoon with three mounts on the nine-race card. Kuntzweiler, 34, first rode at Churchill Downs during the Spring 1999 meet and has ridden 65 winners here.  Kuntzweiler won here first race here in the 1999 Fall Meet and her most recent win came during the 2004 Spring Meet. Her best meet here was in the spring of 2000 when she rode 19 winners. Steve Krajcir will handle Kuntzweiler’s book here and this summer at Ellis Park. …

With eight racing programs remaining in the meet, trainer Tom Amoss continues to put up gaudy numbers. Amoss is tied for second in the trainer standings with Dale Romans with 15 victories, six fewer than Steve Asmussen. However, Amoss has started only 43 horses and is winning at a 35 percent clip, the only conditioner with more than 10 victories winning at better than 30 percent. “The meet has been very good,” Amoss said. “I don’t run enough to win a (training) title unless we win at a silly percentage.” Forty percent qualifies as silly, which Amoss did in the 2008 Spring Meet when he won his only outright title here with 35 winners from 87 starters. Amoss also shared the Spring title with Romans in 2002.

BAFFERT DERBY DUO, DUBLIN RETURN TO THE TRACK – Kentucky Derby favorite Lookin At Lucky and stablemate Conveyance were back on the track Thursday morning for the first time since last Saturday’s “Run for the Roses” with both colts galloping 1 ½ miles after the renovation break under Peter Hutton.

`“He looks good,” trainer Bob Baffert said of Lookin At Lucky, who finished sixth as the tepid favorite in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands.  “He’s got a swagger to him. They both looked good.”

Throughout the week, Baffert had called Preakness participation for both colts a “50-50” proposition. That changed a tiny bit Thursday morning.

“He’s 51,” Baffert said of Lookin At Lucky, owned by Karl Watson, Mike Pegram and Paul Weitman. “This one (Conveyance, owned by Zabeel Racing International) is 50.”

Also returning to the track for the first time since Saturday’s Derby was Robert Baker and William Mack’s Dublin.  The son of Afleet Alex jogged a mile shortly after 6 o’clock under exercise rider Arielle Witkowski.

“He’s doing excellent; sharp as a tack,” trainer D. Wayne Lukas said. “You’d never know he ran.”

Dublin, who ran seventh in the Kentucky Derby, is scheduled to van to Pimlico on Tuesday where he will attempt to give Lukas a sixth Preakness victory.

Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver, owned by WinStar Farm, jogged a mile for the second consecutive day under exercise rider Kevin Willey.

Other Thursday morning activity for Churchill Downs-based Preakness hopefuls included Dogwood Stable’s Aikenite galloping 1 ¼ miles, Robert LaPenta and Jacks or Better Farm’s Jackson Bend galloping a mile and a quarter, Ike and Dawn Thrash’s The Cliff’s Edge Derby Trial (GIII) winner Hurricane Ike jogging a mile and the Dale Romans-trained duo of Donegal Racing’s Paddy O’Prado and Donald Dizney’s First Dude galloping a mile and a half each.

PURE CLAN HEADED TO ROOD & RIDDLE – What was supposed to be a routine work day turned out to be anything but that when Lewis Lakin’s star turf mare Pure Clan demonstrated that she wanted no part of a scheduled five-furlong work under regular exercise rider Steve Schmelzel.

“She didn’t want to work,” trainer Bob Holthus said. “There is possibly something wrong with her left front foot and we are going to try to get her in today at Rood & Riddle (clinic in Lexington).”

Pure Clan has not raced since finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (GI) last November at Santa Anita.

“She bruised the bottom of her feet when she was turned out, just like last year,” Holthus said. “Physically, she has filled out a lot.”

Holthus was plotting a 2010 campaign similar to that of 2009 when Pure Clan began the year in the Early Times Mint Julep (GIII) at 1 1/16 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course and concluded with a Breeders’ Cup run.

“If she runs five times and as good as she did last year, I’ll be happy,” said Holthus, who counts Pure Clan among the best horses he has trained in the company with Proper Reality and Lawyer Ron.

In three seasons of racing, Pure Clan has compiled a record of 8-4-3 in 16 races with earnings of $1,987,498. Included in that record are Grade I victories in the American Oaks Invitational and Flower Bowl and three graded stakes triumphs at Churchill Downs.

RAVI’S SONG RETURNS WITH STYLISH VICTORY-- If one wants to draw a smile from trainer Carl Bowman, just mention Ravi’s Song.

The smiles have been plentiful since last Friday when Ravi’s Song returned to the races after a 7 ½-month layoff because of an injury. Ridden by Francisco Torres, Ravi’s Song swept past seven rivals in the stretch to win a seven-furlong allowance test by 2 ¼ lengths in 1:22.85.

“She was pretty impressive, wasn’t she,” Bowman said. “She just has an incredible turn of foot and when she kicks it in, wow!”

The 4-year-old filly by Unbridled’s Song is a daughter of Lu Ravi, who was trained by Bowman. A five-time graded stakes winner and three-time runner-up in Grade I races, Lu Ravi compiled a record of 26-11-8-3 in five years of racing for earnings of $1,819,781.

Lu Ravi’s best running came in routes and Bowman expects the same from Ravi’s Song.

“She is much better going two turns,” Bowman said. “I would prefer to find a non-winners of three other than going a mile and a sixteenth and after that look at stakes. I don’t like grass and I don’t like synthetics, so she will stay on dirt.”

SELVA HEADS FIELD OF EIGHT FILLIES AND MARES FOR SATURDAY’S UNBRIDLED SIDNEY – Helen Alexander and Helen Groves’ Selva, winner of the 2009 Mardi Gras on turf at Fair Grounds and runner-up in her 2010 debut in the Bienville on grass, tops a field of eight fillies and mares entered for Saturday’s $62,000-added Unbridled Sidney at five furlongs on the Matt Winn Turf Course.

Trained by David Carroll, Selva will be ridden by Robby Albarado, who was aboard for the Mardi Gras triumph.

The field for the Unbridled Sidney, from the hedge out, is Ivory Empress (Julien Leparoux, 118 pounds), Knockout Bertie (Shaun Bridgmohan, 118), Tirbracken Lily (Leandro Goncalves, 112), Pina Colada (Brian Hernandez Jr., 118), Selva (Robby Albarado, 118), Trusty Temper (Corey Nakatani, 118), Valentine Fever (Francisco Torres, 118) and Candy Cane (Garrett Gomez, 118).

WORK TAB (Track: FAST) – Miner’s Reserve, seventh in The Cliff’s Edge Derby Trial for trainer Nick Zito, breezed four furlongs in :49.40 … (Turf: FIRM – dogs up) –  Veteran turf star Silverfoot breezed four furlongs on turf in :50.20.  Trainer Dallas Stewart’s three-time winner of the Louisville Handicap (GIII) is now 10 years old … Regret (GIII) winner and Mrs. Revere (GII) runner-up Keertana breezed three furlongs on turf in :36 for trainer Tom Proctor.

PURE CLAN HAS LIGHT DRILL FOR BREEDERS’ CUP FILLY & MARE TURF – Lewis Lakin’s Pure Clan put in her final major move for her start in Friday’s $2 million Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (Grade I)  at Santa Anita by working three furlongs in :37.60 over a “fast” track early Sunday morning at Churchill Downs.

With regular morning partner Steve Schmelzel aboard, Pure Clan was on the track at 6:15. Trainer Bob Holthus watched from his usual backstretch viewing stand and expressed satisfaction with the move.
    “It was a nice little work,” Holthus said. “She will load in the morning about 4 and when she gets to Santa Anita, she will gallop on the turf Wednesday and Thursday morning.

Garrett Gomez will have the mount on Pure Clan, who turned in her only off-the-board finish in 15 starts with a 10th-place finish in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, which was also run at Oak Tree at Santa Anita.

“We are on the same schedule as last year,” Holthus said. “She had her last work before the race here and then shipped out. I know it was awful hot last year out there and that could have affected her.”

Temperatures were in the mid-90s last year for the Breeders’ Cup, but the long-range forecast for Arcadia, Calif., on Friday calls for a high of 81.

CAPT. CANDYMAN CAN PUTS IN FINAL WORK FOR BREEDERS’ CUP SPRINT – David Zell and the late Joseph Rauch’s Capt. Candyman Can worked a half-mile in :48.40 under jockey Freddy Lenclud on Sunday morning at the Skylight Training Center.

“It was a good work. I was happy with him,” trainer Ian Wilkes said of the move that was accomplished over a Pro-Ride surface that is similar to the one Capt. Candyman Can will run on Saturday at Santa Anita in the $2 million Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Sprint (GI).

“He will leave from Skylight and go straight to the plane in the morning,” Wilkes said. “He may go to the track at Santa Anita on Tuesday; I’ll want to see how he travels.”

A four-time stakes winner this year, Capt. Candyman Can finished second to Fatal Bullet in his most recent start in the Phoenix (GIII) at Keeneland on Oct. 8 over the Polytrack.  The 3-year-old Candy Ride gelding is a two-time stakes winner at Churchill Downs, with wins in the Matt Win earlier this year and last fall’s Iroquois (GIII).

DENIS OF CORK RETURNS TO DAVID CARROLL’S BARN – Denis of Cork, who ran third in the 2008 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI) and followed that with a runner-up effort in the Belmont Stakes (GI) has returned to the barn of trainer David Carroll.

“He is back galloping,” Carroll said. “He got back about a month and a half ago. We jogged him the first month and now he is galloping. We are delighted to have him back.”

Owned by Mr. and Mrs. William K. Warren Jr., Denis of Cork went on the shelf in the summer of 2008 when Carroll found the start of a hairline fracture in the colt’s left hind ankle. Denis of Cork was turned out at a farm in Ocala, Fla., and this January suffered an injury to his right front suspensory.

“It took us that long to get him back,” Carroll said. “We are just taking it day to day and I can’t even tell you when he’ll breeze. We are just trying to put a foundation back in him.”

When the Fall Meet ends here Nov. 28, Carroll will take Denis of Cork with the rest of his stables to New Orleans and the Fair Grounds meet.

Another standout for Carroll, the 4-year-old filly Acoma, may resurface in the $100,000-added Cardinal Handicap (GIII) at 1 1/8 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course.

A three-time graded-stakes winner at Churchill Downs, Acoma had her perfect record at Kentucky tracks end in her most recent start, a ninth-place finish in the First Lady (GI) at Keeneland on Oct. 10.

“She had trained well for the First Lady, but she caught soft turf and didn’t run at all,” Carroll said of Acoma, who had won all six of her previous starts in Kentucky. “We checked her over after that and she was fine, so hopefully we can go in the Cardinal and finish the year on a positive note.”    

MRS. REVERE DRAWS 40 NOMINATIONS – Nelson McMakin’s homebred Hot Cha Cha, winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (GI) at Keeneland, headlines a list of 40 nominations to the 19th running of the $175,000-added Mrs. Revere (GII).

The Mrs. Revere, won last year by Acoma, is for 3-year-old fillies and will be run at 1 1/16 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course on Nov. 14.

Hot Cha Cha is not the only Grade I winner nominated to the Mrs. Revere. Waratah Thoroughbreds’ Miss World, winner of the Garden City at Belmont Park in September, ran fourth behind Hot Cha Cha in the QE II.

Other graded-stakes winners on the turf nominated to the Mrs. Revere are Dell Ridge Farm’s Bluegrass Princess, who took a division of the Grade III Valley View at Keeneland; Barbara Hunter’s Keertana, winner of the Regret (GIII) here in June; and, Paul Pompa Jr.’s Mary’s Follies, winner of the Grade III Boiling Springs at Monmouth Park in June.

BARN TALK – Calvin Borel has picked up a second Breeders’ Cup mount according to agent Jerry Hissam. Borel will be reunited with Lets Go Stable’s Ready’s Echo for trainer Todd Pletcher for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (GI). Borel rode Ready’s Echo to a third-place finish in the seven-furlong Forego (GI) at Saratoga on Sept. 5. Borel’s other Breeders’ Cup mount is Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird in the $5 million Classic.

Julien Leparoux, who is confirmed on nine Breeders’ Cup mounts, has picked up the mount on Glen Hill Farm’s No Inflation in the Oak Tree Derby (GII) for trainer Tom Proctor on Saturday at Santa Anita. Third in the Jefferson Cup (GII) at Churchill Downs in June, No Inflation won the Grade III Kent at Delaware Park by 6 ¼ lengths on Sept. 5.

WORK TAB – Warrior’s Reward, who ran fifth as the favorite in the Perryville (GIII) at Keeneland last month, worked a half-mile at Churchill Downs in :50.80 for trainer Ian Wilkes. … Two probable starters for Friday’s $100,000 Ack Ack (GIII), Riley Tucker and Que Paso, put in half-mile moves. Riley Tucker covered the distance in :50 for trainer Steve Asmussen and Que Paso was clocked in :51 for trainer Allen Milligan.

Lewis Lakin’s Pure Clan, winner of the Grade I Flower Bowl Invitational at Belmont Park in her most recent start, continued her preparation for a second bid for the $2 million Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (GI) with a five furlong workout on Tuesday at Churchill Downs.

The Robert Holthus-trained 4-year-old daughter of Pure Prize breezed five furlongs in a strong 1:00.40 over a “fast” track under exercise rider Steve Schmelzel.  The move ranked as the seventh-fastest of 39 moves at the distance.  Pure Clan covered the distance in fractional times of :12.60, :24.80 and :36.60 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:14.80.

“This was her final major work,” said Holthus.  “We’ll probably just let her do something easy Sunday morning before she gets on the plane on Monday.  It looks like she came out of her work good, so we hope we’ll get a decent post, a clean trip and a little more luck than last year.”

The consistent Pure Clan turned in an uncharacteristically poor effort in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, which was run at Oak Tree at Santa Anita, as it will be for this year’s running on Friday, Nov. 6.  She finished last of 10 fillies and mares behind champion Forever Together in that race, but has returned this year with a strong campaign in which she has compiled a record of 2-1-1 in four races.  She also won the Modesty (GIII) and finished third to Dynaforce in the Beverly D. (GI), both at Arlington Park, before overcoming soft turf to win the Flower Bowl on Oct. 3.

“She’s more mature and has been very lightly raced this year,” Holthus said.  “She’s going into the race pretty fresh.”

Pure Clan will have a new jockey in the Breeders’ Cup race as regular rider Julien Leparoux is committed to ride Forever Together.   Garrett Gomez will be in the saddle aboard Holthus’ filly on Breeders’ Cup Day.

   The work by Pure Clan occurred just after the mid-session break for track maintenance on a cloudy, cool morning at Churchill Downs.
    
EINSTEIN HEADS WEST FOR BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC BID – A short time before Pure Clan’s work, Stronach Stable’s Einstein climbed aboard a van for the short ride to Louisville International Airport, where he caught a flight to California for the Breeders’ Cup.

Trainer Helen Pitts-Blasi’s two-time winner of Churchill Downs’ Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (GI), 2009 Santa Anita Handicap (GI) and the 2008 Clark Handicap (GII) is set to run in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI), a race that could be the last on-track appearance by the 7-year-old, Brazilian-bred son of 1985 Kentucky Derby (GI) winner Spend a Buck.

Einstein has a career record of 11-4-3 in 28 races with earnings of $2,903,324.

CHURCHILL DOWNS FALL MEET OPENS SUNDAY – Churchill Downs’ 21-day Fall meet opens on Sunday, Nov. 1 with the first of two “Stars of Tomorrow” racing programs that are restricted to races exclusively for 2-year-old Thoroughbreds.

The 11-race program, topped by the $100,000-added Iroquois Stakes (GIII) and Pocahontas Stakes (GIII), has a post time of 12:40 p.m. (all times EST).  The Fall Meet will conclude on Saturday, Nov. 28.

Sharing the spotlight with the racing on opening day is the 2010 Churchill Downs Calendar Giveaway sponsored by Humana.  The first 5,000 fans through the admission gates on Sunday will receive a copy of the calendar.

Also on Sunday, Churchill Downs will unveil its new “Daybreak at the Downs,” an early morning insider’s look at Churchill Downs racing and workouts hosted by racing analyst Jill Byrne.  “Daybreak at the Downs” will be held each Sunday of the meet from 8-10 a.m in the Churchill Downs Clubhouse sections 117-118.  Admission is free, as is coffee, milk and donuts for all of those attending the weekly sessions.

“Daybreak at the Downs” fans should park in the Gate 10 Longfield Ave. parking lot and enter the track though Gate 10.

Also set for opening day is the first “Who’s the Champ? Handicapping Contest” in the Churchill Downs Champions Club Lounge.

Events are also scheduled for kids every Saturday and Sunday of the Fall Meet in Churchill Downs’ “Junior Jockey Club,” which is located just inside of Gate 10.

WORK TAB (Main track: FAST) – Brassy Boy, third in the Bashford Manor (GIII) and a contender for Sunday’s opening day Iroquois (GIII), breezed five furlongs in 1:03 for trainer Hal Wiggins.

BRASS HAT SEEKS ELUSIVE FIRST TURF WIN IN LOUISVILLE HANDICAP – When Fred Bradley’s homebred Brass Hat made his turf debut in 2004, four of his rivals in Saturday’s Louisville Handicap (Grade III) had not been foaled.
    “Four of them? That’s pretty neat, I’ve got to tell my dad,” said trainer William “Buff” Bradley of the popular 8-year-old gelding who has yet to win in seven career turf tries.
    The Louisville Handicap will mark the fourth race back for Brass Hat since he suffered a strained suspensory ligament in his left leg last summer.
    “He has been playing when he comes off the track, which is great for an 8-year-old,” Buff Bradley said. “He is training like a 4- or 5-year-old. It is amazing how he keeps coming back. You don’t ever count him out.”
    After breaking his maiden in the Rushaway Stakes at Turfway Park in March 2004, Bradley put Brass Hat on the grass in the Forerunner at Keeneland.
    “He is bred for the grass (by Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Prized) and he ran second to (eventual Jefferson Cup winner) Prince Arch,” Bradley said. “He was beaten only five lengths by Kitten’s Joy here in the American Turf, and Kitten’s Joy was a champion that year. He has been competitive against top horses on the grass.”
    Brass Hat’s second of three Matt Winn Turf Course tries came two years later in his first start after suffering a condylar fracture in his right front ankle a year earlier in the Lone Star Derby. Brass Hat ran seventh that day, his worst turf showing ever.
    “The rail was out that day and the first thing (jockey) Willie (Martinez) said was, ‘He’s good. Don’t worry about it.’ ” Bradley said.
    Fourth in the Louisville Handicap last year behind Lattice, Brass Hat enters Saturday’s race off a third-place finish in the Grade II Elkhorn at Keeneland.
    “I thought he ran huge at Keeneland,” Bradley said. “Maybe he flattened out a little bit at the end. (Jockey) Calvin (Borel) keeps saying I should run him on the dirt the way he is training.
    “I am not completely off the dirt with him. I’d like to go back to the Mass Cap (a race Brass Hat won in 2007). But you get in a cycle and if I had gone in the New Orleans Handicap (instead of the Mervyn Muniz Jr. Memorial) which may have been better for him, I would have gone in the Alysheba (on May 1). I thought the surface (grass) would be kinder for him and the distance (a mile and a half) would make it so he would not have to run so hard the whole way.”
    Brass Hat has a career record of 8-5-2 in 29 races with earnings of $1,825,814.

WOOLLEY’S WONDERFUL RIDE ENTERS SECOND MONTH – On April 21, Chip Woolley was a little known trainer from New Mexico who came to Churchill Downs with modest expectations for a Kentucky Derby hopeful named Mine That Bird.
    One month, a Kentucky Derby (GI) victory and runner-up finish in the Preakness (GI) later, life has totally changed for Woolley.
    “I wouldn’t change a thing,” Woolley said as he watched Mine That Bird gallop twice around the main track before the renovation break Thursday morning. “When we came here, we had planned on going on to the Belmont after the Derby.”
    But what Woolley did not count on was an extended stay personally in Kentucky and tending to one horse instead of 25, which are being overseen by Woolley’s older brother Bill in New Mexico.
    “Bill can gallop and do everything and if I stay here after the Belmont, I might let him come in for a while and I’ll fly home for a week,” Woolley said.
    Despite all the notoriety from the Triple Crown run, Woolley yearns a bit for the regular routine of a full barn.
    “With 25 head, there is something new every day,” Woolley said. “There are a lot of things going on. This (watching Mine That Bird gallop) is the highlight of my morning right now and with my leg, I can’t do a lot of stuff.”
    In addition to Mine That Bird, all other Churchill Downs-based Preakness runners were on the track Thursday morning headlined by Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra, who galloped under Dominic Terry.
    Returning to the track for the first time since their Pimlico excursions were Flying Private (fourth) and Luv Gov (eighth) for D. Wayne Lukas, seventh-place finisher Terrain for Al Stall Jr. and ninth-place finisher General Quarters for Tom McCarthy.
    
PURE CLAN HAS FIRST TURF WORK OF 2009 – Three-time Churchill Downs stakes winner Pure Clan worked six furlongs around the “dogs” in 1:14.60 under exercise rider Steve Schmelzel on Thursday morning.
    “It was a pretty good work around the dogs,” trainer Bob Holthus said as he prepares Pure Clan for her 2009 debut in the June 6 Early Times Mint Julep (Grade III). “This will probably be her only turf work.”
    Winner of two races on the dirt in the fall of 2007 as a 2-year-old, Pure Clan moved to the grass last summer to win Churchill Downs’ Grade III Regret, then headed to California to win the American Oaks Invitational (Grade I) at Hollywood Park.
    Nominations for the Early Times Mint Julep, worth $100,000-added for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up going a mile and a sixteenth on the Matt Winn Turf Course, close on Saturday, May 23

FIELD OF SEVEN PROBABLE FOR MONDAY’S WINNING COLORS – The 2-3 finishers from the May 2 Humana Distaff (Grade I), Temple Street and Dubai Majesty, are among seven fillies and mares expected to pass the entry box Friday for Monday’s sixth running of the $100,000-added Winning Colors (Grade III) at six furlongs on the main track.
Among the other probables according to stakes coordinator Allison De Luca are Keep the Peace, Lady Chace, Nadeshiko, Tar Heel Mom and Tiz to Dream.
Two stakes scheduled for May 30, the Dogwood and the Aristides, drew 25 and 21 nominations, respectively.
Heading the probables on De Luca’s list for the Dogwood is Rainbow Miss Stakes winner Affirmed Truth, a stablemate of sixth-place Kentucky Derby finisher Summer Bird trained by Tim Ice. Other probables for the $100,000-added Dogwood for 3-year-old fillies going a mile on the main track are Hightap, Lady’s Laughter and Slides Choice.
Two-time Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (Grade III) winner Semaphore Man heads the list of probables for the $100,000-added Aristides for sprinters 3-years-old and up going six furlongs. Other probables include Bold Start, Cassoulet, Garfine, Grand Sensation, Knights Cross and Vicarian.
Entries for both stakes will be drawn Wednesday.

CLASSIC WINNER BOREL JOINS JILL BYRNE FOR SATURDAY’S “GET IN THE GAME” SEMINAR – Popular Kentucky Derby and Preakness-winning jockey Calvin Borel will be racing analyst Jill Byrne’s special guest during Saturday’s free “Get in the Game” Handicapping Seminar at Churchill Downs.
The new weekly series takes place every Saturday in the paddock area at noon (EDT) and features informative and in-depth analysis of races and handicapping topics. Among Borel’s scheduled mounts on the day is a ride aboard veteran Brass Hat in the $100,000-added Louisville Handicap.

BARN TALK – Julien Leparoux, who entered Thursday’s card with a six-win lead (24-18) over Miguel Mena in the race for leading rider, will be out of town on Memorial Day to ride at Lone Star Park. Leparoux’s major mount that day will be trainer Marty Wolfson’s It’s a Bird in the $400,000 Lone Star Park Handicap (Grade III).
    Robby Albarado entered Thursday’s card with 3,995 career victories. He has five mounts Thursday and five more on Friday as he bids to become the 56th North American rider to reach the 4,000-win plateau.
    Also approaching milestones are trainers Ken McPeek and Bill Connelly. McPeek, with 999 career wins, has one horse entered Thursday (Sandstorm Cat in the eighth). Connelly, with 998 career wins, sends out two runners – Dancing Lydia in the fifth and Talkin Indian in the eighth.
    Mambo in Seattle, runner-up in the 2008 Travers (Grade I) worked a half-mile Thursday in :48.40 before the renovation break, fourth-best of 31 at the distance. Also working a half-mile Thursday was Sam P., ninth-place finisher in the 2007 Kentucky Derby, who covered the distance in :51.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND KICKS OFF WITH ‘FRIDAY HAPPY HOURS’ – This week’s “Dress to Impress” Friday Happy Hours at Churchill Downs will showcase live music by Radio Radio. The popular Spring Meet promotion, which takes place most Fridays from 4-7 p.m. in the paddock area, also features $2 Budweiser Select, $2 select specialty drinks and $2 hot dogs. Also, one female in the crowd will be chosen as “best dressed” and win a $250 gift certificate to a Louisville area boutique.
    Churchill Downs has partnered with General Electric to giveaway GE stainless steel products in an on-track sweepstakes offer over the three-day Memorial Day weekend (Saturday, May 23 through Monday, May 25). Each day, there’ll be a daily prize drawing after the seventh race with one daily winner who’ll take home their choice of either a new refrigerator, range, dishwasher or microwave oven, courtesy of GE. Registration for the drawings will take place at a tent in the paddock area, where the first 5,000 entrants each day will receive a free koozie.
    Sunday, May 24 is “GE Day at the Races” at Churchill Downs. Employees of General Electric who show their employee ID badge at Gate 10 will receive complimentary admission for themselves and their guests, as well as reserved seating in either Sections 115-116 or Millionaires’ Row 6.

MINE THAT BIRD ‘LOPES’ ONCE AROUND – Double Eagle Ranch and Buena Suerte Equine’s Kentucky Derby 135 winner Mine That Bird back-tracked to the paddock tunnel and then ‘loped’ once around a “fast” Churchill Downs main track Tuesday morning before the renovation break.
    Trainer Bennie “Chip” Woolley Jr. liked what he saw and said Mine That Bird would ‘lope’ around twice on Wednesday.
    “The only reason we are staying here is because he is very comfortable here and training well,” Woolley said. “We will leave Monday or Tuesday, probably Tuesday.  He may jog the morning we leave. I’d like to leave about 9 and get into Pimlico around 7 that evening.”
    The magnitude of pulling off the second-largest mutual shocker ($103.20) still has not sunk in on Woolley.
    “The whole thing is still a whirlwind,” Woolley said. “It is hard to get a grip on it that it really happened. Eventually you’ll get used to the fact that it really did happen.
    “Sunday I was in the paddock getting ready to do an interview and looked up at the sign ‘Kentucky Derby 2009, Mine That Bird’ and I almost started crying. I couldn’t believe it.”
    Winning jockey Calvin Borel, who saw his bid for a Triple Crown end two years ago at Pimlico on Street Sense when he was nipped by Curlin, came by the barn to look in on the Derby winner.
    Woolley was asked what Borel told him after he worked Mine That Bird five furlongs the Monday before the Derby after being on the gelding for the first time.
    “I was looking for 1:01 that morning and he went in 1:02 but he got off a little slow,” Woolley said. “Calvin never moved on him and he said ‘He will finish’ and that gave Calvin the confidence to take back and come driving.”

PAPA CLEM RETURNS TO THE TRACK – Bo Hirsch’s Papa Clem returned to the track at Churchill Downs at 6:15 Tuesday morning for the first time since running fourth in Kentucky Derby 135.
    With exercise rider Mundo Gonzalez aboard, Papa Clem jogged the wrong way around accompanied by a pony. Gonzalez said Papa Clem would gallop in the morning about the same time.
    Trainer Gary Stute is scheduled to return to Louisville this weekend and the colt is scheduled to fly to Baltimore on May 13.

PIONEEROF THE NILE HEADS BACK TO TRACK WEDNESDAY – Zayat Stables’ Pioneerof the Nile is scheduled to return to the track Wednesday morning for the first time since his runner-up finish in Kentucky Derby 135.
    Trainer Bob Baffert is scheduled to return to Louisville on Saturday night. Two of the nine runners he has at Churchill Downs, Mike Pegram’s Mayor Marv and Peachtree Stable’s Mythical Power, will be heading to Texas on Wednesday for Saturday’s $400,000 guaranteed Lone Star Derby (Grade III) at a mile and a sixteenth.

GENERAL QUARTERS REMAINS PREAKNESS POSSIBILITY – Owner/trainer Tom McCarthy walked General Quarters on Tuesday morning and plans to return the 10th-place Kentucky Derby 135 finisher to the track Wednesday morning.
    “The Preakness is a possibility, but I want to see how he gallops and go from there,” McCarthy said. “He is doing so well. I’d like to get him over there (Pimlico) and get a few turns around the track.”
     McCarthy is not sure when he would bring General Quarters to Pimlico if he decides to try the Preakness. A charter flight leaves from Louisville on May 13, but, McCarthy said, “He ships so well, I may van him up.”
    
HULL, MENA TO TEAM UP IN PREAKNEES FOR ROMANS – Heiligbrodt Racing Stable, Team Valor International and Gary Barber’s undefeated Hull galloped Tuesday morning at Churchill Downs.
    Trainer Dale Romans said the undefeated winner of the Grade III Derby Trial on April 25 would work Saturday morning and fly to Baltimore on May 13. Miguel Mena, who was aboard for the Derby Trial win, has the Preakness call.

TERRAIN HEADING FOR TEXAS … OR BALTIMORE – “We’ve got a decision to make,” trainer Al Stall Jr., said Tuesday morning. “The plane for Texas leaves at 7 o’clock in the morning.”
    The decision will be whether Adele Dilschneider’s Terrain goes to Lone Star Park for Saturday’s Lone Star Derby or remains in Stall 7 at Barn 47 at Churchill Downs and trains for the Preakness.
    “We are not 100 percent for the Preakness,” Stall said. “He is at Keeneland and is coming over here this afternoon. If he does not go to Texas, he will work here this weekend and fly to Baltimore next Wednesday.”
    Terrain ran fourth in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (Grade I) at Keeneland on April 11 in his most recent start.
    “We gave him a little time off after the Blue Grass and he has had two works since,” Stall said of Terrain, who worked a half-mile in :50.40 at Keeneland on Sunday. “He has done real well since the Blue Grass.”
    Terrain has run twice this year, opening with a third-place finish in the Louisiana derby (Grade II) on March 14. Fourth in last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (Grade I), Terrain closed 2008 with a fifth-place finish in the Grade III Delta Jackpot behind possible Preakness rival Big Drama.

BARN TALK – IEAH Stables, Lewis Lakin and Pegasus Holding Group Stable’s Pure Clan, winner of last year’s Grade III Regret at Churchill Downs and the American Oaks Invitational (Grade I) at Hollywood Park, worked five furlongs on a “fast” main track in 1:00.40, second best of 25 at the distance, under regular morning partner Steve Schmelzel.
    “When we got her back off the farm, she had a stone bruise and that put us about 30 days behind with her,” trainer Bob Holthus said of Pure Clan, a three-time stakes winner at Churchill Downs and third-place finisher in the 2008 Kentucky Oaks (Grade I). “I had been working her on Saturday, but I didn’t want to go on Derby Day.”
    Pure Clan’s return is expected to come in the Early Times Mint Julep (Grade III) at a mile and a sixteenth on the Matt Winn Turf Course.
    “She worked well this morning, but her next work or two will probably be on the grass,” Holthus said.
The only faster work was turned in by three-time graded stakes winner Capt. Candyman Can, owned by Joseph Rauch and David Zell in 1:00.20 for trainer Ian Wilkes.
Robby Albarado joined the 800-win club at Churchill Downs last week, becoming only the sixth rider in track history to reach that milestone. He hit the mark in Thursday’s eighth race when he guided La Mousse (ARG) to victory.
    Calvin Borel, currently third in the rider standings with nine victories, is six wins shy of becoming the fourth rider in Churchill Downs history to reach 900 victories. Victory No. 9, which came aboard Mine That Bird in the Kentucky Derby, gave him 4,729 for his career.
    Jamie Theriot and Julien Leparoux lead the rider standings with 10 victories each.
Trainer Ken McPeek enters Wednesday’s card with 996 career victories, 231 of them at Churchill Downs. McPeek has two horses entered on Wednesday’s card: Biden Our Time in the second and Mimi’s Kids in the sixth.
Nominations close Wednesday for the eighth running of the $100,000 Matt Winn for 3-year-olds going seven furlongs on the main track on May 16. Zayat Stables’ Eaton’s Gift gave trainer Dale Romans his second consecutive Matt Winn victory in the 2008 running.
    Closing Saturday are nominations for the 72nd running of the $100,000 Louisville Handicap (Grade III) for 3-year-olds and up going a mile and a half over the Matt Winn Turf Course and for the sixth running of the $100,000 Winning Colors for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up going six furlongs on the main track. The Louisville Handicap will be run May 23 and the Winning Colors on Memorial Day, May 25.
    Adele Dilschneider and Claiborne Farm’s Lattice won last year’s Louisville Handicap for trainer Al Stall Jr. Graeme Six, trained by Tom Amoss for the ownership of Tom O’Grady, Johns Martin and Team West Side Stables, won the 2008 Winning Colors.
Tracy Farmer’s Commentator, a two-time winner of the Whitney (GI) at Saratoga, worked four furlongs in :47.60 for trainer Nick Zito.  The 8-year-old Distorted Humor gelding is coming off an upset loss in his 2009 debut in the $500,000 Charles Town Classic at West Virginia’s Charles Town Races & Slots.
Chrysalis Stable LLC’s Silverfoot, the 9-year-old three-time winner of the Louisville Handicap (GIII), continued to work toward his 2009 debut with a five-furlong breeze around the dogs on “good” turf in 1:03.40.
Mr. Nightlinger, winner of the 2008 Aegon Turf Sprint (GIII), breezed four furlongs on the grass in :49.40.

Frank Fletcher Racing Operations, Inc’s Officer Rocket rallied from last place under a rail-skimming ride from Calvin Borel to overtake Bold Start by a head to win Wednesday’s $50,400 feature race, an allowance test for three-year-olds and up, at Churchill Downs.

            Bold Start, ridden by Larry Melancon, assumed the lead after a quarter-mile and opened a daylight margin in the stretch until Officer Rocket sailed past on the inside in the shadow of the wire.

            Officer Rocket returned mutuels of $12, $4.60 and $3 in defeating five foes. Bold Start paid $3.40 and $2.60, while True Course, who was another six lengths back in third under Corey Lanerie, returned $3.40 to show.

            Officer Rocket, a four-year-old son of Officer trained by Bob Holthus, covered the seven furlongs on a fast main track in 1:21.93. The victory was the fifth in 17 career starts for Officer Rocket and worth $23,808 to raise his career earnings to $317,818.

• GRAEME SIX WORKS TOWARD WINNING COLORS
• PURE CLAN TURNS IN FIRST WORK SINCE KENTUCKY OAKS
• FORMER DERBY CONTENDER SAM P. TO RUN ON SATURDAY
  

GRAEME SIX SHARP IN CHURCHILL WORK, LOOKS TO REBOUND IN WINNING COLORS – With a disappointing debut in Grade I competition behind her, trainer Tom Amoss is looking for a strong rebound effort by Johns Martin, Tom O’Grady and Team West Side Stables’ Graeme Six in the $100,000-added Winning Colors Stakes (Grade I) on Monday’s Memorial Day holiday racing program at Churchill Downs.

Graeme Six breezed four furlongs on Wednesday in :48.20 in preparation for the six-furlong Winning Colors, a race for fillies and mares ages 3 & up that will be run for the fifth time. The move by Graeme Six ranked as the sixth-fastest of 33 at the distance over a “fast” track.

The 4-year-old daughter of Graeme Hall stamped herself as a filly with a future with a runner-up finish behind Dream Rush in the Prioress (GI) at three and a pair of sharp victories in sprint stakes over the winter at Fair Grounds and Oaklawn Park. But Graeme Six struggled home last of eight behind Intangaroo in the $300,000-added Humana Distaff (GI) on Kentucky Derby Day at Churchill Downs after she became involved in a sizzling duel for the lead in that seven-furlong race.

Amoss’s filly broke from an inside post that day and became entangled in a battle for the lead that generated blistering fractions of :22.27 for the first quarter and :44.31 for the half-mile. But Amoss said jockey Julien Leparoux had to commit to place Graeme Six near the front or risk being shuffled back and losing all chance in the early going.

“That race was a deviation from what had been a pretty consistent form for her,” said Amoss. “We were committed (to fight for the lead). That, combined with the extra distance, probably wasn’t a good thing for us. It just was a race that we feel fortunate that our filly came out of it okay and we’re able to race back to so quickly.

“She’s in good form, and I think she’ll run her race. Hopefully everybody will be a little more sensible in regard to what happens up front. We’ll see what happens.”

Graeme Six won the $100,000 Pan Zareta at Fair Grounds and the $50,000 Carousel at Oaklawn over the winter and will bring a record of 4-6-0 in 13 races with earnings of $245,809 into Monday’s races.

Her Winning Color rivals will likely included one of her Humana Distaff rivals Roll Reroll Stable’s Miss Macy Sue, the winner of last year’s Winning Colors who finished third to Maryfield in the first running of the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (GI) at Monmouth Park. The 5-year-old daughter of Trippi was among those battling for the lead along with Graeme Six and paid the price with a sixth-place finish.

Others expected to run Monday include Adhrythm, Change Up, Gem Sleuth, Officer in Pursuit and V.I.P. Princess.

Monday’s renewal marks the first time that the Winning Colors will be run as a graded stakes event.

PURE CLAN HAS FIRST POST-KENTUCKY OAKS WORK, SET FOR TURF RUN IN THE REGRET – Lewis Lakin, IEAH Stables and Pegasus Holding Group’s Pure Clan returned to serious training after her third-place run in the $500,000-added Kentucky Oaks (GI) with a five-furlong work Wednesday at Churchill Downs.

The Robert Holthus-trained daughter of Pure Prize covered the distance in 1:02, which ranked as the fifth-fastest of 15 moves at the distance.

“She went nice,” Holthus said. “It was just a nice, easy little work. She came back good.”

Holthus said Pure Clan would return to the surface over which she launched her racing career when she runs next in the $200,000-added Regret (GIII) at 1 1/8 miles on turf, which will be run as part of the “Stephen Foster Super Saturday” program on Saturday, June 14.

She scored a maiden win on turf in her career debut at Ellis Park and followed that with an allowance win on the Keeneland grass. Pure Clan then shifted to the dirt, where she won both the Iroquois (GIII) and Golden Rod (GII) at Churchill Downs. She opened this season with a pair of losses to the ill-fated Eight Belles in a runner-up finish in the Honeybee (GIII) and a third-place run in the Fantasy (GII), and then finished a rallying third to Proud Spell in the Kentucky Oaks.

Depending on her effort in the Regret, Pure Clan would run next either in the Coaching Club American Oaks (GI) on dirt at Belmont Park or in the American Oaks (GI) on turf at Hollywood Park.

With her run in the Kentucky Oaks, Pure Clan’s career record stands at 4-1-2 in seven races with earnings of $417,876.

BARN TALK – Starlight Stable LLC and Donald Lucarelli’s Sam P., ninth to Street Sense in last year’s Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI), is scheduled to run Saturday at Churchill Downs. The 4-year-old son of Cat Thief is a member of a field of 10 three-year-olds and up in the ninth race, a 1 1/16-mile allowance race. Julien Leparoux will ride the Todd Pletcher trainee, who will look to snap an eight-race losing streak that dates to an allowance win under the Twin Spires on Nov. 25, 2006. Sam P. defeated Chelokee that day, then finished third to the same rival last year in Churchill Downs’ Northern Dancer (GIII). His only start this year resulted in a seventh-place finish behind Dubious Miss in an allowance race on Polytrack at Keeneland. … Sarah Lynn Stables LLC’s C J’s Leelee, runner-up to Pure Clan in the Golden Rod, returns to competition for the first time since that outing in an optional claiming allowance race on turf on Friday at Churchill Downs. Robby Albarado, who entered Wednesday’s action needing three victories to reach the 700-win plateau at Churchill Downs, will ride the Ken McPeek-trained daughter of Mizzen Mast, who faces seven other 3-year-old fillies as she makes her 2008 debut in the 1 1/16-mile eighth race on the Matt Winn Turf Course. … Stonerside Stable’s Sutra, winner of the Frizette (GI) in 2006, heads a field of six in a Friday allowance race for older fillies and mares. The Mike Stidham-trained daughter of Meadowlake will be running for the first time since a disappointing fifth-place fun in the Bed O’Roses (GII) at Aqueduct on April 19. Sutra defeated Winning Colors hopeful Graeme Six in her season’s debut in a Fair Grounds allowance race, then chased that rival in runner-up finishes in both the Pan Zareta at Fair Grounds and Carousel at Oaklawn. Albarado will ride Sutra in Friday’s ninth race. ... Kim and John Glenney’s Transduction Gold, winner of the 2007 Sycamore (GIII) at Keeneland, breezed four furlongs over the Matt Winn Turf Course on Tuesday in preparation for Satuday’s 71st running of the $150,000-added Louisville Handicap (GIII). The 5-year-old Formal Gold gelding covered the distance over “firm” turf in :51.40. Transduction Gold ran eight to English Channel in the John Deere Breeders’ Cup Turf (GI) and opened his season with a 10th place finish behind Dancing Forever in the Elkhorn (GII) at Keeneland.

2008 SPRING MEET LEADERS

Through Sunday, May 18

Jockeys Starts 1-2-3

Julien Leparoux 114 21-23-18

Miguel Mena 107 19-13-18

Robby Albarado 77 17-7-10

Shaun Bridgmohan 75 16-14-9

Calvin Borel 125 15-17-21

Jesus Castanon 84 14-9-6

Jamie Theriot 70 8-5-5

Kent Desormeaux 31 5-8-6

Larry Sterling, Jr. 36 5-5-5

Brian Hernandez, Jr. 58 4-9-6

John McKee 52 4-8-9

Fernando De La Cruz 49 4-2-5

Trainers

Ken McPeek 26 11-2-3

Steve Asmussen 44 10-8-7

Tom Amoss 25 9-5-4

Greg Foley 30 6-6-1

Mike Maker 18 6-2-1

Dale Romans 44 5-8-5

Eddie Kenneally 27 5-6-6

Ian Wilkes 17 5-5-3

Steve Margolis 17 4-3-3

Nick Zito 14 4-3-1

Owners

Ken and Sarah Ramsey 20 7-2-2

Zayat Stables, LLC 23 5-5-3

Maggi Moss 9 5-1-2

Padua Stables 6 4-1-0

Five owners tied with three (3) wins